Barelas Babe's Stories Tagged 'Barelas' (33)

Barelas residents and business owners were startled last May to see Barelas coupled with the newly created Silver Platinum Neighborhood Association (SPNA). In a press release that was in circulation May 25, the SPNA boldly …

Parents who care for young children all have those moments of longing to be alone for just an hour, half an hour, fifteen minutes, five... What no one told me was that once the fledglings flee the nest the longing reverses, and the five minutes, a quarter hour, half an hour, whole becomes the parent's…

Repairing rifts is part of the work of that families do -- you can learn a lot about a family by how it approaches these difficult situations. Some families bury the rift and never talk about the pain under the surface; some families erupt with anger every so often before stuffing the genie back into the…

Some Novembers steal away autumn's glorious foliage in one storm; other November months are like burlesque dancers, removing items according to a carefully chosen plan designed to entice and titillate. Not that I'm comparing the natural beauty of the bosque to the beauty of human artifice (that's umm,…

Nostalgia is peppered with sensory memories. (See what I did there?) We know that hearing is one of the last senses to go, and that a whiff of a bubblegum wrapper can transport us back to second grade.

There are numerous websites devoted to what New Mexicans miss when we are away from the Land of…

Protip: if you are trying to escape madding crowds, checking out a botanic garden in sub-freezing weather is a surefire way to attain this end. On New Year's Eve day, when the mercury threatened to climb above 30 degrees for the first time in days, I decided a sojourn to the Albuquerque Botanic…

Here it is, just a few hours into 2015, and I have tasted red chile and champagne, seen (but not yet shoveled) snow, and ground and sipped locally roasted coffee (David's Roast from Villa Myriam -- they sell it at…

I returned home last night from a road trip that was equal parts camping, conferencing, book proposal team writing, and socializing. Given the lateness of the hour, I only partially unpacked my car -- removing one duffel bag with clothes, my computer and hiking backpacks, hiking boots, toiletries bag, two pillows,…

Skarsgard Farms (formerly Los Poblanos Organics) delivered turnips and beets to my front porch last week. Seeing these root vegetables side by side in my refrigerator gave me a hankering for Lebanese-style pickled turnips with beet juice. Since there was…

Hola Fixers! It has been a while, sí? I’m now blogging as Barelas Babe, Ph.D, which has a nifty little ring to it, don'cha think? But no worries, this Bareleña isn’t going to get too big for her pantalones (or should that…

Sacred Heart Church in Barelas had its Fiesta last weekend on the site of the old church. They tore down the church decades ago due to structural problems - with a little reconfiguration and a consecration, the old school gym became the Sagrado Corazón we know today. (If you venture into the parish office, you will see a painting of the old church by a… Continue

A few weeks ago I was getting my Morning Fix and clicked to a KOAT story about off duty police car use. The story was interesting, the first reader comment actually made me think, but three comments later it devolved into the usual local teevee forum rant. Just as I was about to go back to DCF, an HGTV story caught my eye - “… Continue

The busiest place in South Barelas on Christmas Eve is not a church, but a temple of tamal-making – El Modelo. Longtime (and not-so-longtime) residents of Albuquerque have memories of lining up and waiting to pick up tamales to enjoy on Christmas Eve with their families. For more than a decade, we’ve joined in this tradition.

Some restaurants are more than just a place to eat – they are places where food is intertwined with memories.… Continue

Each Halloween is a little bit different. Some years I dole out the candy one by one, concerned that I may not have purchased enough to last the night. Other years the trick-or-treaters are few and far between, and I start tossing in generous handfuls of candy so that I do not get stuck with too much leftover candy.

It is that time of year again. Signs that fall has arrived are rampant: hot air balloons a-soaring, green chile a-roasting, politicians a-yammering campaigning, and ants disappearing.

For years we've waged a multi-generational war on our property. It isn’t the usual exterminator/home owner battle, though. We’re more sophisticated than that – we're established some subtlety in staking out our philosophic positions of what I'll call,… Continue

This is a tale of perplexity and persistence. More than a decade ago, when I purchased my first home and moved to Barelas, I registered to vote, wanting to do my civic duty and wanting to have my say about matters close to home. I read all of the election literature I received, including the newsletters sent out by the Middle Rio Grande…Continue

With the economy taking a dive and people losing jobs and (struggling to get their unemployment benefits), it seems like an odd time for a neighborhood to grow by increasing housing and services, but that is what has been happening in Barelas, even after our current recession began.

There are the Barelas Townhomes across from the famed Barelas Coffee Shop, the Barelas… Continue

Shortly after I moved to Barelas, I discovered Tingley Park. With two little ones, Tingley Park was a far enough walk away from home to feel like an adventure and close enough for us to make a quick dash for home in case we needed to.

There was also the bonus of Tingley Park’s location across the street from the Rio Grande…Continue